Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus

[bower]

Concern about the spread of this virus is continuing. It affects tomatoes and peppers (some peppers are resistant but may carry the virus). Some plants won't have symptoms but if infected the fruit is ruined.
IDK how worried we should be about the possibility of getting an infection from grocery bought peppers or tomatoes. In the case of peppers, it's possible they could harbor the virus without showing symptoms.
IDK how practical it could be, to worry about a virus that doesn't show symptoms, since you would never know until or unless your tomatoes got it.

Anyway it came to my attention that the F1 Brandywise seed sold in the past season at Fruition Seeds is reported to be infected.
https://www.fruitionseeds.com/learn/blo ... e-forward/
This seed was greenhouse produced, not in their own fields, and doesn't affect their other seeds.
Still it is very concerning that infected seed got into the US marketplace in spite of the multitude of regulations that have been marshalled against it.

Since we didn't have a thread specifically discussing this virus, I thought I should start one.

[GoDawgs]

Just what we need... another virus. Here are a few articles I found:

Photos - https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/tobrfv-a- ... -producers

Management prqactices - https://plant-pest-advisory.rutgers.edu ... uit-virus/

Seems to be mainly a greenhouse problem among commercial varieties. Some comfort to those of us who are working with OPs

[Mark_Thompson]

Yikes, I have Brandywise from Fruition, but two years older. Really would like to avoid adding that one to my list of pathogens.

[Shule]

We got Verticillium from some store-bought plants (at a big box store). Never seen a store-bought plant preinfected with a virus, though, fortunately, but we got plenty of viruses in the garden last year with all the thrips and aphids. That was fun. The aphids flew to our tallest plant and really hammered it (fortunately, it was a super vigorous cherry that could take it--but it probably got about three different viruses).

I like to imagine that the viruses are altering the DNA of my tomatoes in favorable ways (whether or not it's particularly likely, it still seems like it's possible).

[bower]

@Shule for the random weak viruses that might be around and don't kill your plants or ruin your crop, that might be possible.

The ToBRFV in circulation seems to be particularly nasty. If you look at the pictures of its effects on fruit, well we're talking 100% losses of your crop, inedible and unmarketable.
The other serious downside is that it's very persistent in the environment. That means it's really difficult to eradicate or remove even from an enclosed environment like a greenhouse. It spreads really easily by contact, and if you get infected then plants, soil, containers, everything must go to the incinerator if you ever want to grow tomatoes again.
So it really could be devastating.

Many peppers are resistant to this virus. But that means they can be carriers without showing a sign, and then pass it on to your tomatoes.
This scared the heck out of me because I started some seeds from grocery store peppers. So every time I see a leaf spot on anything I go into the paranoid state, looking at every image on the internet, comparing with my own, and finally concluding it is no way the dreaded virus.

I am really confused about the manifestation in tomatoes though, because they say there is no resistance - there are no resistant tomato varieties - and yet they talk about asymptomatic plants testing positive for the virus. Based on the look of the damage, you would not expect even one infected fruit to end up on the market, much less processed for seeds!! And not only processed, packed up and shipped to customers well after the season's end, only to be recalled as infected. If one infected plant turned up during the production season, they would have to call off the whole seed lot and never send it out to distributors. I just can't get my head around, how could this happen..
The upshot in general though, is that the fruits of commerce are more suspect than usual, and worries me about buying good looking peppers and tossing the remains in the compost, not even to mention the plants I have in the house with peppers on em, for fear of something that really does ruin your fruit in a big way.

[karstopography]

Makes one want to build a wall around the house and never leave. The grazon herbicide contaminated manure and compost that’s in mass circulation these days and destroys tomatoes is bad enough, now there’s an invisible, hard to detect, but absolutely deal killing virus out there lurking in peppers and tomatoes. I hope this isn’t a case of not if but when it gets around to all tomatoes. Is there anyway to stop the spread?

[Cole_Robbie]

The Rutgers link above mentioned milk as a somewhat effective disinfectant. It apparently works by having a high ph. With that rationale, it would seem like other alkaline concoctions would work, too. Potassium bicarbonate works that way on powdery mildew.

And somewhat related, there is a "viroid," which is basically a virus without an outside coating of fat, that is decimating the cannabis industry. Hop latent viroid is spread by scissors and physical contact and travels the world through the sale and sharing of cuttings. There is a test for it. A positive test is 100% accurate; a negative test might be 20% accurate. The only way is to test the plant many times over its life, and even then the accuracy never gets to 100%. No one wants to talk about it, especially the people selling cuttings or selling testing. There are strains of cannabis that sell for over a thousand bucks per rooted clone, so there's lots of incentive to mislead people.

[bower]

What is it with virus testing, anyway? I mean, the inaccuracy seems to be a problem across the board. So test, retest, and still don't have certainty, keep on testing then. Must be great for the test business. I mean, if they worked, they wouldn't sell half as many...

I heard that the commercial tomato growers whose greenhouses got contaminated with the tomato virus are switching to cannabis. Then when they get the viroid, what will they switch to next? Or just eventually burn the place down.

Peppers have gazillions of viruses, apparently. Things you discover when looking for a picture of a leaf spot.
Yet for all the stuff out there, that affects peppers and tomatoes, it seems really really rare to see such a thing or hear about it in somebody's home garden, other than TSWV which is spread about by thrips.

[bower]

Another F1 tomato sold to home gardeners, which turned out to be infected, is Sweet Prince. Two seed lots affected.
https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/2023 ... rus-alert/